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US lifts laptop ban from final Middle Eastern airline (updated)
If you're a business traveller who wants to use your laptop on a flight originating in the Middle East, things are looking up. The US started to lift restrictions for passengers carrying large electronics like laptops on flights originating in the Middle East earlier this month, including lifting the ban at Abu Dhabi airport, and exempting Emirates and Turkish Airlines from the ban. Now, according to a report by Reuters, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has finally lifted the laptop ban on inbound passengers on Saudi Arabian Airlines, the final airline to be under restriction.
Hypersonic aircraft are more realistic thanks to a ceramic coating
There are a few reasons why you aren't flying across the country in hypersonic aircraft, but the simplest of them is heat: when you travel at speeds over Mach 5, the ultra-high temperatures (around 3,600F to 5,400F) strip layers from metal. How do you protect a vehicle when even the toughest ceramic tiles can't handle those conditions? A team of British and Chinese researchers might have the answer. They've engineered a carbide-based ceramic coating that's about 12 times more effective than current ceramics, making hypersonic aircraft more realistic.
The world’s largest aircraft prepares for testing
We last heard about the Stratolaunch in August 2015, when Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's company Stratolaunch Systems announced plans for test flights with the massive airplane meant to help launch satellite-bearing rockets more efficiently. Those test flights apparently didn't happen, but Allen did tweet a picture of the huge aircraft coming out of its equally gigantic hangar today for "fuel testing."
US considers banning laptops on all flights from Europe
The Department of Homeland Security is considering banning all carry-on laptops on flights from Europe to the United States. This rule change would represent an expansion of previous regulations banning carry-on laptops and tablets on flights from some Middle Eastern and African countries.
Climate change could make future flights a lot rougher
Airplane rides could get extra bumpy in the future thanks to climate change. Turbulence could become two to three times more common because of it, according to a new study from the University of Reading.
Emirates will hand out Surface tablets on flights from Dubai
In mid-March, the US hastily instituted an indefinite ban on electronic devices larger than a cellphone from being carried on to the flights of nine Middle Eastern airlines. Reportedly, it was to prevent terrorists from sneaking an explosive-laden fake iPad into the cabin, though few details on the specific threat have emerged in recent weeks. To compensate travellers for the hassle of spending hours on a flight without their trusty laptops, Emirates has begun offering complimentary Microsoft Surfaces for the durations of affected flights.
Recommended Reading: Radiohead's 'OK Computer' predicted the future
The Radiohead Prophesies: How 'OK Computer' Predicted the Future Stuart Berman, Pitchfork Pitchfork is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Radiohead's OK Computer this week, including a pretty interesting look at how Thom Yorke imagined the future in 1997. Released at a time when the internet was still a new thing, the album's content ties in directly to 2017. As Berman notes, "OK Computer is really more like the first draft for a never-filmed pilot episode of Black Mirror."
UK also bans devices from cabins on flights from Middle East
The UK has followed the US in restricting electronic devices on flights from several countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Though not identical to the measures implemented by the US, passengers on "select flights" coming to the UK from Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Tunisia will only be allowed to carry smartphones in the cabin. Any device bigger than 16.0 x 9.3 x 1.5cm, such as laptops, must be stored in checked, hold baggage.
US bans most electronics on Middle Eastern airlines (updated)
The US just made traveling to certain parts of the world considerably more complicated, at least for technology fans. Middle Eastern and African airlines (including Royal Jordanian and Saudia) say the US has asked them to institute a 96-hour ban on carrying most electronics on flights to or from the US, starting on March 21st. You can sit down with your phone or any necessary medical devices, but cameras, laptops and other larger gadgets will have to go into your checked baggage. The exact conditions of the ban aren't yet clear, but an American official said that "12+" airlines are covered, while Saudia exec Abdulrahman al Fahad mentioned 13 countries being affected.
NASA starts testing more fuel efficient jet engine tech
A group of engineers have developed a new jet engine tech that can improve planes' fuel efficiency by four to eight percent, and NASA has begun testing it out. They created a new type of engine propulsor -- composed of the fan and a part called the inlet, which directs air into the engine -- designed to be embedded into a jet plane's body. Jet engines are typically placed away from the aircraft's surface, because of a highly distorted film of air called the boundary layer that envelopes the plane as it zooms through the sky. This new type of jet engine propulsor takes advantage of the boundary layer instead.
Replacement Note 7 starts smoking on Southwest flight (updated)
A Southwest flight was evacuated in Lousiville, Kentucky when a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 overheated and began smoking on board. Louisville Metro Arson investigators confirmed to WAVE News 3 that a Samsung device was the cause of the incident. All passengers and crew members exited the plane safely via the main cabin door and no injuries were reported. To make matters worse, the device was a replacement following the company's global recall of the handset over the last few weeks.
Satellite tracking for airliners may help prevent disappearances
The fact that a passenger airliner can disappear without a trace is still pretty difficult to comprehend. Two companies are looking to bring a new satellite tracking solution to market that they say will prevent mysterious disappearances like that of Malaysia Airlines MH370 in 2014. Rather than beaming location info to stations on the ground, those details are sent to satellites with the Aireon GlobalBeacon system. The technology is being developed alongside flight tracking service FlightAware and the duo is targeting 2018 for the system to be operational.
Delta computer system meltdown puts all flights on hold
After a strange succession of software bugs and glitches delayed and grounded flights across several airlines last year, you'd think system resilience would be top-notch by now. Delta Airlines, however, is living through one of these nightmare moments today, with all departing flights on hold at the time of writing. A widespread computer meltdown is at the heart of the problem, with Delta issuing the standard "we're working on it" statement, and warning any passengers booked in to travel today not to head to the airport without checking the status of their flight first.
Airbus uses drones to speed up aircraft inspections
Aircraft inspections are one of the best things operators can do to ensure safety in flight, but ironically, the chore can be a little unsafe for inspectors themselves. To properly review an aircraft's condition, workers often need to utilize cranes and lifts to closely examine an plane's structure and components. It's mildly risky, slow and laborious process -- but soon, it may not be. Airbus has started testing drone inspections that may speed up the process by over an hour.
Solar Impulse makes first sun-powered Atlantic crossing
The Solar Impulse has become the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic on sun power alone. Piloted by Bertrand Piccard, it arrived in Seville, Spain this morning at 1:38AM ET, and was dramatically greeted by the nation's Patrulla Águila aerobatic formation team. The 71 hour flight, which started Monday in New York, is the second longest so far. However, it was undoubtedly the most symbolic, coming just over 89 years after Charles Lindbergh's historic "Spirit of St. Louis" Atlantic crossing.
Taxiing airplanes could soon get flight info wirelessly
Airlines have made great efforts to update their tech, including replacing bulky flight manuals with iPads. But pilot teams still receive flight information updates the same way they've been doing for decades: over radio voice comms, as current wireless solutions don't support high-enough volume data transfer. Last February, a joint NASA and FAA team sent flight updates to a taxiing airplane over a wireless communication network for the first time, NASA said Tuesday.
UK government says BA plane strike probably wasn't a drone
Reports of a drone hitting a plane at Heathrow Airport may have been inaccurate. Responding to MP questions in the House of Commons, transport secretary Patrick McLouglin said: "The incident which was reported on the 17th of April, it's now thought that was not a drone incident." British Airways flight B727 was approaching the London airstrip at 12:50pm from Geneva, with 132 passengers on board. The pilot reported an object striking the aircraft, which spiralled into reports of a UAV.
Commercial aircraft get their first global emissions standard
Ground-based vehicles have had emissions standards for a while (just ask Volkswagen), but commercial aircraft like passenger jets? Not so much. However, the world just took one big step toward cleaning up the skies: a total of 23 countries have agreed to set the first international carbon dioxide emissions standard for commercial aircraft. If the measures are adopted as recommended, new airplane models will have to meet the tougher guidelines in 2020. New aircraft from existing model lines will follow suit in 2023, and there will be a complete cutoff for non-standard aircraft in 2028.
ICYMI: Cockroach torture, an app for Parkinson's and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-567613{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-567613, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-567613{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-567613").style.display="none";}catch(e){} Today on In Case You Missed It: A cybernetic cockroach how-to describes how to use an Arduino to control where a cockroach goes, which makes all of us uncomfortable.
Watch a smart drone fly through a 'forest' all on its own
Drones can already find their way around obstacles, but they're usually looking for obvious obstacles like walls. What about navigating through tiny spaces where there may be just inches to spare? MIT has the answer. It just demonstrated tiny quadcopter drones using cutting-edge algorithms (the same ones used in the walking Atlas robot) to wend their way through a "forest" of 26 closely-packed obstacles. The trick is to flip the usual pathfinding routine on its head -- rather than plan a course based on the obstacles, the algorithms look for free spaces and string them together to create a safe route. As the video below shows, the result is a drone that zips effortlessly around poles and wires.
